1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed toward a portable machine for picking up manure, whether dry or wet, from the ground, barn floors, or concrete feedlots, in order to clean such surfaces and to place the gathered manure in the machine. More particularly, this invention relates to such a machine in which a tractor pulls the machine and provides power through a power takeoff shaft on the tractor. A hydraulic system within the tractor is used to provide the lifting means for allowing operation and transportation of the machine.
2. Background Art
Machines of this type which pick up manure from the ground and throw it into a wheeled receptacle from which it is transported to a disposal site are not new. Such machines are disclosed in my U.S Pat. Nos. 3,348,652 and 3,595,363.
The pick up mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,363 was attached to the front of a manure spreader or slurry spreader and was lowered to the feedlot by the flexing of the yoke at a joint between the hitch and the container. The spreader thus tipped forwardly about its fixed axle. This mounting arrangement resulted in limited ground clearance in the raised position. The underside of the spreader would interfere with pavement, rocks or soil when being transported across irregular terrain damaging the spreader
Variations in the moisture content of the manure picked up by such machines created inconsistencies in the density of the application of the manure to a farmer's field. The prior flail or auger-type manure spreaders varied in their application rate, depending on the moisture content.
Disposal sites for the manure from a prior art machine were limited to farmers' fields. During wet weather, when the farmers' fields were muddy, the manure gathering machine could not be operated in the wet field. Also, if crops were growing on all the farmers' fields, the manure could not be spread onto the farmers' fields. When these conditions occurred, use of a manure pickup machine was prohibited.
Prior pickup machines, such as machines disclosed in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,348,652 and 3,595,363, were trailing-type machines pulled by a tractor with the pickup mechanism in the front of the machine. With these machines, the manure in the corners of the feedlots and in alleys within the feedlots could not be reached by the pickup mechanisms of these machines.